THE Port of Liverpool has won government approval to build a 500,000 TEU container terminal that will boost annual capacity at the United Kingdom's third-largest box hub by 60 per cent, reports New York's Journal of Commerce.
Operator Peel Ports said the US$75 million terminal on the Mersey River, which will be able to accommodate two postpanamax containerships simultaneously.
This, promoters say, will consolidate Liverpool's position as the UK's gateway for transatlantic container traffic.
At present only Felixstowe and Southampton, the country's top two box ports, can handle postpanamax ships because Liverpool's 800,000 TEU Royal Seaforth Container Terminal is behind locks.
The new 42 acre terminal, which will be the first postpanamax facility on the UK's west coast, is scheduled to open in 2010.
There were fears London might block the plan following its rejection three years ago on environmental grounds of a $1 billion, 2.3 million TEU terminal complex near Southampton.
Liverpool last year handled 630,000 TEU, compared with over three million TEU at Felixstowe, and attracted three new North Atlantic container services.
The new facility could face competition from the rival west coast port of Bristol, which is working on plans for a $600 million 1.5 million TEU terminal able to handle ships of over 10,000 TEU.